Goals from substitutes Louis Moult, Daryl Horgan and Paul Gallagher gave Preston North End a victorious end to their pre-season campaign.
Alex Neil's Lilywhites built up to their opening league clash with Queens Park Rangers, just seven days away, with a comfortable 3-0 win at Boundary Park.
Moult coverted nicely from Graham Burke's left wing cross five minutes after the break and Horgan from 25 yards and Gallagher - a rebound after his initial penalty had been saved - finished off the preparations in positive fashion.
The first half was a stop-start affair, with over 20 fouls given by referee Graham Salisbury, giving it no real flow, 16 of those given away the hosts, illustrating their aim to try and stop North End playing.
But it was the Latics who created the best of the early opportunities, full back Rob Hunt testing Declan Rudd from 20 yards and then trialist Ismael Miller drilling a shot just over the bar from outside the penalty area.
However, despite the close attention of the Oldham midfield and their rigid shape, chances did start to come the way of the yellows as the half wore on.
On 20 minutes a good break saw Callum Robinson nick the ball in midfield, drive forward and cross deep from the left for Darnell Fisher, who unfortunately sliced just wide on the stretch, close to scoring his first goal for the club.
Ten minutes before the interval Tom Barkhuizen used his pace to break down the right, glided into the box and drilled the ball across, Robinson stretching, but just inches away from the ball.
Before the break Josh Harrop was brought down 20 yards out in a left-hand channel by Christopher Missilou. Harrop himself stepped up to take the free kick, but found the wall with his effort.
Having already changed Sean Maguire mid-way through the first half with Moult, Rudd, Barkhuizen, Alan Browne, Harrop and Paul Huntington were replaced at half-time by Chris Maxwell, Horgan, Tom Clarke Graham Burke and Ryan Ledson.
And the start to the second half was a positive one for the visitors with Andrew Hughes overlapping down the left, collecting a ball from Robinson, only for Daniel Iverson to smother the effort behind for the game’s first corner.
Five minutes into the half and the scoring was opened by North End. A quickly taken free kick by Clarke found Robinson. He played a ball with the outside of his boot down the left for Burke, who whipped an appetising ball in from the left and Louis Moult smashed the ball first time past Iverson – a well crafted goal from the yellows.
Louis Moult’s confidence was clearly boosted by the goal as on the hour mark he tried an audacious effort from the left 35 yards from goal that had the goalkeeper back-pedalling and flicking the ball over the bar for another PNE corner.
The second came on 68 minutes and it was s stunning strike, this time from Horgan, who picked up the ball from Fisher, ran at the Latics defence and unleashed a powerful 25 strike that beat Iversen and came off the right-hand upright and into the back of the net.
No.9 Moult almost added a second with nine minutes to go, seeing a shot blocked on the line by substitute Stott after Horgan’s cross in from the left following a crisp and precise cross-field ball by Gallagher, who had come on with 20 minutes to go.
The final few minutes saw a PNE onsalught and after two previous strong shouts for a penalty, Billy Bodin was upended in the box and Paul Gallagher scored, but only at the second attempt after Iverson had made a good initial save from the experienced midfielder.
Oldham Athletic line-up: Iverson, Hunt, Graham, Clarke (Hamer, 77), Taylor (Stott, 46), Nepomuceno, Missilou, Gardner, Branger-Engone, Coke (Maouche, 83), Miller (Benteke, 46). Subs not used: De La Paz, Sheridan.
PNE line-up: Rudd (Maxwell, 46), Fisher (Woods, 70), Hughes, Pearson (Gallagher, 70), Huntington (c) (Clarke, 46), Davies, Barkhuizen (Burke, 46), Browne (Ledson, 46), Maguire (Moult, 24), Harrop (Horgan, 46), Robinson (Bodin, 70). Subs not used: Storey, Earl.
Attendance: 1,660 (366 PNE fans)
Referee: Mr G Salisbury
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